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Danny Garcia v Adrian Granados Fox TV

For far too long, former world champion Danny Garcia has not been accorded the respect that his ability and his record suggest is due him.

Garcia is 34-2 with 20 knockouts, but with a little bit of luck could easily be 36-0. He’s 8-2 in world title fights and has had belts at both super lightweight and welterweight.

At the very least, through 36 fights Garcia has had a career that will force voters to think long and hard about electing him to the International Boxing Hall of Fame if he never fights again. But he’s still only 31 and has a lot of big fights ahead of him.

Yet, Garcia hasn’t gotten the public acclaim that other welterweights have earned. He is in what could easily be considered a golden era for welterweights, and with boxers like WBA champions Keith Thurman and Manny Pacquiao, IBF champion Errol Spence, WBC champion Shawn Porter and WBO champion Terence Crawford in the mix, it’s easy for a guy to be overlooked.

Crawford, who is the Yahoo Sports’ pick as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, will defend his title Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York in the main event of a pay-per-view card against Amir Khan.

Garcia will fight Adrian Granados on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, in a bout televised on Fox, and he’ll get an opportunity to make a statement on the same night that Crawford is going.

Promoter Leonard Ellerbe said he agreed with Yahoo Sports’ choice of Crawford as the sport’s top pound-for-pound boxer, but said the identity of the best welterweight is very much open to debate, in essence suggesting Crawford isn’t a true welterweight.

“Pound for pound, I believe Crawford is the best fighter in the world,” Ellerbe said. “He’s a terrific fighter. I’m just not sure he's the best welterweight in the world.

“Danny has a chip on his shoulder because other guys are getting a lot of attention, and justifiably so, because they’re coming off good performances. But when they say that, they’re forgetting about Danny. I’m not going to say everyone, but I think most believe Errol Spence is the best welterweight out there. I know Keith [Thurman] feels differently. I know Shawn Porter feels differently. You can better believe Manny Pacquiao doesn’t believe. And I just talked to Danny yesterday, and he has this massive chip on his shoulder because he believes it’s him.”

Garcia isn’t fighting the guy who will be 3,000 miles away, but he no doubt wants to make a statement with the way he performs against Granados. Garcia, for what it’s worth, knocked Khan out in the fourth round of a super lightweight title fight in 2012.

Seven years is a lifetime in boxing, but Garcia has been consistently good over those seven years since that KO. His only two losses were to Thurman and Porter, bouts which were close and which could have gone either way. The Thurman fight was a split decision and one judge had Garcia winning it.

“Those are definitely fights I want to avenge,” Garcia said of his losses to Thurman and Porter. “I want to avenge [my losses in] those fights because I obviously feel like I did enough to win both of those, but I can't worry about that right now.

“I feel like those fights will always be there in the future, in the near future, so I just have to make sure I go in there Saturday night and handle business, first.”

He knows it’s inevitable that his performance against Khan will be scrutinized given Crawford is fighting him. As good as Crawford is, it will be difficult for him to take Khan out as early and as dramatically as Garcia did.

And while sportsbooks have Crawford as an overwhelming favorite to defeat Khan, Garcia sees it differently.

“Khan’s is not an easy style to prepare for,” Garcia said. “He has fast hands and he has quick feet, so it’s definitely going to be an entertaining fight. Terence Crawford is not really a pressure fighter. He’ll try to knock you out with one punch or try to break you down and take you out of the lead.

“I honestly believe it’s a 50-50 fight. I think Terence Crawford has more momentum going into the fight than Khan, but I honestly think it’s a 50-50 fight.”

Ellerbe said the winner of Garcia-Granados will be in position to help prove the identity of the world’s best welterweights. The PBC plans to match its welterweight stars aggressively in 2019 and one of them could emerge as the clear choice.

That’s why Ellerbe believes Saturday’s bout is so crucial.

“It’s a huge fight for both Danny and for Adrian and it’s why I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that their careers are at stake,” Ellerbe said. “I don’t think there is a timetable and fights already made up, but I do have intimate knowledge that all of those guys are going to be fighting each other.

“So if you are Danny Garcia or Adrian Granados and you see what else is out there and what is potentially on the horizon in this division, you know you need to perform to keep your name in that group. That’s why I think this is such a fascinating fight.”

Re: Danny Garcia v Adrian Granados Fox TV

Like most people, I'd love to see the action pick up between the top welters. Right now if forced to put the top six welters in any kind of order, I'd put...

Spence Jr. and Crawford at the top, since they're unbeaten and you can't argue with that. Thurman has victories over both Garcia and Porter, so he'd be a close third. But then there's Pacquiao, the old man in the group, with more career accomplishments than any of them, so he's pretty close in that regard. That leaves Porter and Garcia and, although I very much dislike Porter's boxing style and love Garcia's, the head-to-head here goes to Porter. So right now my order would be:

1. Spence Jr.
1a. Crawford
2. Pacquiao (in the time it took to write this I changed my mind about the order)
2a. Thurman
3. Porter
4. Garcia

Having said this, I can see why Garcia is irked about his perceived lack of respect. I rank Spence and Crawford at the top also because of their sheer talent. But I also do it grudgingly because both have serious arguments "against". Spence needs to step up his competition. When the biggest names on your record are a damaged Kell Brook and a totally undersized Mikey Garcia, you've got a lot catching up to do. At some point patience will start wearing thin, and fans will want something other than raw talent. Crawford is a relative newcomer to welter and although he's faced bigger names than Spence's, they've all been at the lower weights.

Thurman's probably got more welter bragging rights than either Spence or Crawford, but based on his last outing and huge layoff before that, there's no way I can put him at the top. Meanwhile there's Pac Man, who at this point I think can beat Thurman. Finally, someone's got to bring up the rear in the "Big Six". Unfortunately that's got to be Danny, who lost to both Thurman AND Porter. But they were close fights.... no wonder he's pissed.

In any case, these guys can't continue avoiding one another. There's plenty of fights to be made among them.

Re: Danny Garcia v Adrian Granados Fox TV

Originally Posted by walrus

I like Danny but he got so many gifts on the W side it’s easy to not be enthralled with him

Exactly, I agree with Tito's assessment.. and if you look at the 2 losses, Garcia certainly looks better than many are people are giving him credit for. Considering how he went life and death with Hererra, Petersen and the other times where he under performed when they were letting him simmer with a few hand picked opponents, its not very hard to see him being outclassed by the guys at the very top of the division. Then of course the anchor hes dragging around is he has to back up his own talk and that of his father too.

They want your @$$ beat because upsets make news. News brings about excitement, excitement brings about ratings. The objective is to bring you up to the tower and tear your @$$ down. And if you don't believe that, you're crazy.

Re: Danny Garcia v Adrian Granados Fox TV

Garcia should beat Granados pretty easily, but Granados is pretty rough and may give Garcia some troubles. Garcia has problems with pressure fighters. I’m actually more interested in this fight than I should be.

I used to be a fan of Garcia, but he avoided too many fighters for too long and is still avoiding Spence.

Re: Danny Garcia v Adrian Granados Fox TV

Originally Posted by powerpuncher

Garcia should beat Granados pretty easily, but Granados is pretty rough and may give Garcia some troubles. Garcia has problems with pressure fighters. I’m actually more interested in this fight than I should be.

I used to be a fan of Garcia, but he avoided too many fighters for too long and is still avoiding Spence.

Don't normally disagree with you but.... who exactly had Danny avoided in terms of "too many fighters for too long"? The only name you could possibly bring up, and it'd be up in the air is Broner. Other than that, I'd argue that Danny's list of opponents is greater than either Porter's or Thurman's, and actually only second to Manny's if we're talking about the Big Six. Crawford is a newcomer at welter, and hopefully he'll be fighting some of the top welters soon enough. Meanwhile, he's taken a fight with Khan. Once he shuts up Khan, hopefully he focuses on the top WW's. Spence is probably being avoided by everybody, so it's tough to single out Danny for that.

I'm thinking this is the year it all gets sorted out, and we'll see who's willing to fight who.

Re: Danny Garcia v Adrian Granados Fox TV

Originally Posted by TitoFan

Originally Posted by powerpuncher

Garcia should beat Granados pretty easily, but Granados is pretty rough and may give Garcia some troubles. Garcia has problems with pressure fighters. I’m actually more interested in this fight than I should be.

I used to be a fan of Garcia, but he avoided too many fighters for too long and is still avoiding Spence.

Don't normally disagree with you but.... who exactly had Danny avoided in terms of "too many fighters for too long"? The only name you could possibly bring up, and it'd be up in the air is Broner. Other than that, I'd argue that Danny's list of opponents is greater than either Porter's or Thurman's, and actually only second to Manny's if we're talking about the Big Six. Crawford is a newcomer at welter, and hopefully he'll be fighting some of the top welters soon enough. Meanwhile, he's taken a fight with Khan. Once he shuts up Khan, hopefully he focuses on the top WW's. Spence is probably being avoided by everybody, so it's tough to single out Danny for that.

I'm thinking this is the year it all gets sorted out, and we'll see who's willing to fight who.

After his Matthysse win, he didn’t really fight any top guy for 2 1/2 years (maybe you could count Peterson but he has never been seen as a top fighter. More of a solid fighter). He finally fought Thurman. After that loss, he become very inactive. It took a year to fight after that loss and then he fought Porter after that.

He doesn’t have a bad resume, but after his big win against Matthysse 6 years ago, he hasn’t been that impressive with who he has chosen to fight.

Re: Danny Garcia v Adrian Granados Fox TV

Originally Posted by powerpuncher

Originally Posted by TitoFan

Originally Posted by powerpuncher

Garcia should beat Granados pretty easily, but Granados is pretty rough and may give Garcia some troubles. Garcia has problems with pressure fighters. I’m actually more interested in this fight than I should be.

I used to be a fan of Garcia, but he avoided too many fighters for too long and is still avoiding Spence.

Don't normally disagree with you but.... who exactly had Danny avoided in terms of "too many fighters for too long"? The only name you could possibly bring up, and it'd be up in the air is Broner. Other than that, I'd argue that Danny's list of opponents is greater than either Porter's or Thurman's, and actually only second to Manny's if we're talking about the Big Six. Crawford is a newcomer at welter, and hopefully he'll be fighting some of the top welters soon enough. Meanwhile, he's taken a fight with Khan. Once he shuts up Khan, hopefully he focuses on the top WW's. Spence is probably being avoided by everybody, so it's tough to single out Danny for that.

I'm thinking this is the year it all gets sorted out, and we'll see who's willing to fight who.

After his Matthysse win, he didn’t really fight any top guy for 2 1/2 years (maybe you could count Peterson but he has never been seen as a top fighter. More of a solid fighter). He finally fought Thurman. After that loss, he become very inactive. It took a year to fight after that loss and then he fought Porter after that.

He doesn’t have a bad resume, but after his big win against Matthysse 6 years ago, he hasn’t been that impressive with who he has chosen to fight.

I think after beating Matthysse the fans expected great things and Danny didn't exactly deliver. His lack of activity has been a factor, as well as his choice of opponents immediately after Matthysse (who if I remember correctly Danny was accused of being scared of before their fight, and we all know what happened there). The bar was set pretty high... and Danny made some questionable career moves. He also looked beatable against Herrera in his first fight after Lucas. However, he did face both Thurman and Porter, so he can't be faulted all that much. Certainly not the profile of a ducker, as you seemed to imply a couple of posts back. I feel the ball is in his court. He's certainly got the opponents out there. In fact, a welterweight WBSS tournament would be just the cure for all that ails us in the welter division.

Re: Danny Garcia v Adrian Granados Fox TV

Looking forward to this one. It has been a while since Garcia has done something special and for me he'll always have that asterisk of the Herrera fight which I think was a clear loss. I've come around on him a bit but just feel he could have dug deeper with both Thurman and Porter and let his hands go. The guy is a top notch combination puncher. Meanwhile all Granados does is fight all comers and I think he was shafted at least 3 times clearly v Cintron, Soloman and Broner. The guy is all hustle and a tough nut to crack. Real late start time on this one and at the risk of jinxing it...live baseball is on prior . Delay very possible. PBC on Fox totally botched it's last main event and ran it as "live" which it was not.